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â€œKahriz Rehabilitation Projectâ€ starts in Azerbaijan by financial support of Korea

25 June 2010 14:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanova - APA. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) sign the Agreement to start the project on renovation and rehabilitation of traditional water supply systems called â€œKahrizesâ€. The â€œKahriz Rehabilitation Projectâ€ is supported by the (KOICA) and within its framework IOM, having rich and longstanding experience in kahriz renovation in Azerbaijan, targets to renovate 20 kahrizes in Barda, Goranboy, Goygol, Samukh, Shemkir, Terter, Tovuz and possibly other regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan to provide local communities better access to water resources.

The project with the budget 1,2 million USD will start on 1st July 2010 and will be implemented for 2,5 years.

In Azerbaijan, as it is in many parts of the world, water is in short supply. Much of Azerbaijanâ€™s land accounts for one of the driest regions on Earth. The migration from rural regions in Azerbaijan to urban is also driven by the lack of access to adequate potable and irrigation water. Kahrizes being ancient technology and used as a sustainable water supply source for centuries in Azerbaijan were neglected during the Soviet time. Many of them collapsed or decreased the water supply dramatically. Though being at the same time effective, not requiring any electric power, cheap in maintenance, Kahrizes are going through new birth in modern Azerbaijan now.

The overall objective of the Project is to contribute to the prevention of economic migration caused by environmental reasons by enhancing access of rural communities in Azerbaijan to energy free water resources as a mean to increase agriculture productivity and livelihood.

As a result communitiesâ€™ access to water for consumption and agriculture will be increased, access to water for consumption and irrigation purposes for circa 3000 households will be enhanced, capacity of community members (including women) to manage water resources will be built. In addition it is planned to renovate irrigation channels for communities of 20 villages.

IOM and KOICA believe that the Project will contribute not only to economic, community and rural development of Azerbaijan but also to the management of internal migration.